New kaiju game from Matt Frank + Simon Strange [Archive]

[Godz]

Same here, I'd love to donate $500...but its not possible right now, I need some time...

[Mr. Strange]

Same here, I'd love to donate $500...but its not possible right now, I need some time...

Well, you have about 2 months with the current timeline.

[MechaJahgeezilla]

Well, your wrong

I kid, but really, why can't this be in the big topic?

[PopInPicsPresents]

(I will probably attend G-fest, to promote the campaign).

You'd probably make your quota there

With that many G-fans in one place you'd get the word out along with a bunch of donations if you decide to put up a donation box.

[Mr. Strange]

(I will probably attend G-fest, to promote the campaign).

You'd probably make your quota there

With that many G-fans in one place you'd get the word out along with a bunch of donations if you decide to put up a donation box.

Again - I am not comfortable accepting cash donations, because of financial and legal fears. But I was thinking about renting a table, possibly with a laptop for people to log in to Kickstarter with? And some promotional materials?

If I go, I think I'd also offer to play against the winners of any G-game tournaments. (It probably wouldn't be fair for me to enter)

[hammysammy59]

So here's an idea I had, to help make the case for some monsters NOT having beam/projectile attacks.

Think of "super armor" in Marvel vs Capcom....basically characters like Hulk and Juggernaut can stand up to attacks without blocking them that would daze/pop up/knock back other fighters. Give Anguirus a similar capability.

Now, I know projectiles in Godzilla games are continuous, rather than a short Hadouken style fireball. So, whereas, say, Godzilla's energy meter will drain as he fires his breath ray, Anguirus' meter allows him to charge forward. So, Godzilla is firing his ray on Anguirus. Anguirus cannot fire one back to instigate a "beam battle", but when his 'special' button is pressed, he begins to charge forward. He still takes damage from the ray, but, it cannot push him back. Eventually he crashes into Godzilla and interrupts his ray. However, if Godzilla stops firing the ray, he can avoid or counter the charge.

Thoughts?

I'm really glad ideas like this are getting pitched. In the movies we see some monsters are more resistant to beams than others, and stuff like this just makes sense. If we keep the energy bars, I definitely like the idea of some monsters using it for things besides a beam. Mr. Strange pitched some really cool things a page or two ago, and to add to that, I think Kamacuras' optical camo from Final Wars could be really cool too. (maybe have it work like Gigan's teleport?)

[Mr. Strange]

I'm really glad ideas like this are getting pitched. In the movies we see some monsters are more resistant to beams than others, and stuff like this just makes sense. If we keep the energy bars, I definitely like the idea of some monsters using it for things besides a beam. Mr. Strange pitched some really cool things a page or two ago, and to add to that, I think Kamacuras' optical camo from Final Wars could be really cool too. (maybe have it work like Gigan's teleport?)

It's pretty important, in general, for monster abilities to be something visible, and something which is self-centric instead of opponent-centric. Invisibility or slow-time work great in single-player games, but get pretty weird in multiplayer situation.

Super Armor is very workable, but it can be hard for players to really see it - even Hulk's Super Armor is something that is pretty tricky to take advantage of. But I think it's a rich vein to mine for ideas.

Resistance to beams is, obviously, something I've been doing for years. But as we have discussed, some more clarity there would help players.

I was playing G:StE yesterday with someone, and I was wishing that the Story-Mode bio data (Attack rating, resistances, etc) was visible in the vs character select screen. That sounds like a pretty crammed 4-player select screen...

[Brianzilla2004]

I'd really like to see Zilla make an appearance in this game. He shares a lot of Baragon's traits. He's a speedy monster with low defense, he's an excellent jumper and he can burrow. He could have a breath weapon not unlike Anguirus' Sonic Roar, which would allow him to disrupt attacks at close- to medium-range. Like Baragon's flame attack in GSTE, it should be an instantly fired ability. Low damage, slight knockback. Not particularly useful for dealing damage, but great for disrupting your opponents' attacks.

Another ability for Zilla could be scaling large buildings. Approach a skyscraper and press the grapple button and Zilla grabs onto the side and start climbing. If you reach the top of the building, you can perch yourself on the roof and set up a highly lethal jump attack (think pro wrestlers jumping onto downed foes from the corner of the ring). This could be a risky move though, as your opponents could knock the building down with you on it, which could potentially deal great damage to Zilla.

[TitanoGoji16]

I'd really like to see Zilla make an appearance in this game. He shares a lot of Baragon's traits. He's a speedy monster with low defense, he's an excellent jumper and he can burrow. He could have a breath weapon not unlike Anguirus' Sonic Roar, which would allow him to disrupt attacks at close- to medium-range. Like Baragon's flame attack in GSTE, it should be an instantly fired ability. Low damage, slight knockback. Not particularly useful for dealing damage, but great for disrupting your opponents' attacks.

And then, for his Rage/special, he could have his atomic ray from GTS.

[matrix]

I was playing G:StE yesterday with someone, and I was wishing that the Story-Mode bio data (Attack rating, resistances, etc) was visible in the vs character select screen. That sounds like a pretty crammed 4-player select screen...[/quote]
I was thinking the same thing, would be awesome!

[Brianzilla2004]

I'd really like to see Zilla make an appearance in this game. He shares a lot of Baragon's traits. He's a speedy monster with low defense, he's an excellent jumper and he can burrow. He could have a breath weapon not unlike Anguirus' Sonic Roar, which would allow him to disrupt attacks at close- to medium-range. Like Baragon's flame attack in GSTE, it should be an instantly fired ability. Low damage, slight knockback. Not particularly useful for dealing damage, but great for disrupting your opponents' attacks.

And then, for his Rage/special, he could have his atomic ray from GTS.

That could be cool. It would be really awesome if he got a cartoony-looking alternate costume to look more like he did from GTS as well.

As far as power-ups go, I think Air Support should make a comeback. You could have an array of different support options as well. For example:

* Giant Condor - Swoops in and performs dive bombs on your opponents.
* Gotengo - Has a variety of attacks, including missiles, a laser cannon, and of course it can weaponize its drill in some sort of rush attack. If you get the Gotengo power-up when your health is at a critically low state, it could function more like a health and energy pick-up, shooting you with a beam that recharges your energy and heals you a bit as well.
* Super-X2 - Fires missiles at your opponents, as well as absorb energy attacks shot at it head on, which gives it energy for its own beam attack. However, beam attacks that hit the rear of the ship do damage to it.
* Super-X3 - Freezes opponents, as in previous games.

If the military is brought back in more or less the same capacity as what we saw in the last three games, I'd like to have them attack the monster who does the most damage to the city (as in GDAMM) rather than the monster with the most health (GSTE). It adds more strategy to the battles, and forces you to make some key decisions. 'Should I pick up this building and chuck it at Hedorah, or should I leave the structures in the city alone and keep the military fire focused on him?'

Actually, perhaps the vehicles I mentioned as air support could join the military forces should the city be damaged enough. It makes sense. The tanks aren't working, send in the big guns. It could work, and it seems more logical for the Super-X to be attacking the same monster as the rest of the military rather than being a free agent available to whoever picks up the "Air Support" power-up. Hell, even Giant Condor could be triggered in the same way on Monster Island. Destroy too much of his home turf and he'll come after you.

With the Story mode, I think it could be cool if it were approached as a series of specific battles with handicaps and atypical elements thrown into the mix. For example, Godzilla's first mission could be on Monster Island with Anguirus as an ally fighting against alien monsters who just showed up to take Godzilla out before he can foil their plans. The aliens have sent a small army to aid their monsters in disposing of Godzilla, but Giant Condor has awaken to find his home under attack, and so he joins the fight as well. So the setup could be something like this...

Monsters: Godzilla and Anguirus vs. Gigan and King Ghidorah
Battlefield: Monster Island
Advantages: Giant Condor
Disadvantages: Alien military

As Mechagodzilla 1993, you could have the GDF fighting alongside you as you attempt to take out the aliens and neutralize rogue monsters. Alien monsters could have similar advantages with the alien military fighting on their side. You could also change things up by having other events transpire mid-battle. Maybe three minutes into the battle on Monster Island I described, Destoroyah could come out of nowhere and start attacking indiscriminately. In another battle, you could have to face off against Mechagodzilla, Gigan and Megalon all at the same time. If you last a minute or two, Rodan will arrive to lend a hand.

Each monster could have their own story mode tailored for them, all of which could intertwine into a larger narrative. There could also be a scoring mechanism that rewards timely and effective fighting. So if you complete a mission in a minute with 50% health, you'll get a nice time and health bonus added to your score. Getting good ranks on each mission could be tied into unlocking content. Once you've completed Story mode with a monster, you can go back and replay any mission you want.

Unlocking content should be handled a number of ways. I really liked the way unlocking monsters worked in GU. Doing specific things and completing special challenges is a great way to award more content, and it can be quite inventive as well. You could unlock the game's soundtrack, monsters, cities, concept art, fan art, a model viewing gallery, monster bios, etc. by doing anything from winning your first match in a certain city or with a certain monster to beating Arcade mode with a high score or defeating all of the monsters in Survival mode (I think Destroy All Monsters mode with be a good name for Survival).

[Tyler]

I'm a poor college student but I'd totally donate around $50-100.

[Tyler]

I agree with the Zilla stuff. He really does remind me of Baragon with the flame breath, speed and burrowing.

[Godz]

I'm really glad ideas like this are getting pitched. In the movies we see some monsters are more resistant to beams than others, and stuff like this just makes sense. If we keep the energy bars, I definitely like the idea of some monsters using it for things besides a beam. Mr. Strange pitched some really cool things a page or two ago, and to add to that, I think Kamacuras' optical camo from Final Wars could be really cool too. (maybe have it work like Gigan's teleport?)

It's pretty important, in general, for monster abilities to be something visible, and something which is self-centric instead of opponent-centric. Invisibility or slow-time work great in single-player games, but get pretty weird in multiplayer situation.

Super Armor is very workable, but it can be hard for players to really see it - even Hulk's Super Armor is something that is pretty tricky to take advantage of. But I think it's a rich vein to mine for ideas.

Resistance to beams is, obviously, something I've been doing for years. But as we have discussed, some more clarity there would help players.

I was playing G:StE yesterday with someone, and I was wishing that the Story-Mode bio data (Attack rating, resistances, etc) was visible in the vs character select screen. That sounds like a pretty crammed 4-player select screen...

I get what you're saying there...just to flesh out this theoretical ability for Anguirus some more, make it a unique animation that's different from his run, he just lowers his head and flat out charges, with "whoosh" effects around him (I dunno exactly how to describe what I am thinking lol...think Superman or someone from DBZ in flight). Or, heck, just make it his Thunderball roll. The "lower head and charge" route may work better for, say, Gorosaurus...who I'd REALLY hate to see tinkered with and given a beam.

Various other ideas I've had for new tricks...

Titanosaurus: Opens the "fan" in his tail and creates wind gusts that can hurl nearby buildings and structures at opponents as a projectile.

King Seesar: Would like to actually see him being able to reflect his opponent's beams instead of just firing his own. Not a deal-breaker if he doesn't, but, I'd be thrilled to see it.

Heisei Godzilla: I don't know what the requirement/parameter for this should be, but, he can go into Meltdown mode and gain infinite energy and up his attack power, at the cost of RAPIDLY draining health and severely lowered defense. I know some may cry foul, since in "Godzilla vs Destoroyah" his defense was off the charts, he barely reacted to anything that hit him, but it has to be balanced SOMEHOW.

Jet Jaguar: Gorilla Press Slam his opponent HIIIIIIGH into the air, where other monsters can target them with a beam.

Which brings up ANOTHER question for Mr Strange. This may be entirely too ambitious, but, have "tag team" attacks been considered, for certain pairs of monsters? IE, (assuming these monsters are in the game) Showa Rodan air-lifting Mothra Larva on his back and Mothra rains silk from above (as seen in "Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster), or Rodan can grab Godzilla and use him as a flying battering ram ("Monster Zero"), Godzilla and Minya firing synchronized atomic rays ("Son of Godzilla")? I'm a big fan of big moves with big animations (like Super Street Fighter IV's ultra combos) as long as they are interesting to use and to watch the animation play out.

[ゴジラ]

I'd really like to see Zilla make an appearance in this game. He shares a lot of Baragon's traits. He's a speedy monster with low defense, he's an excellent jumper and he can burrow. He could have a breath weapon not unlike Anguirus' Sonic Roar, which would allow him to disrupt attacks at close- to medium-range. Like Baragon's flame attack in GSTE, it should be an instantly fired ability. Low damage, slight knockback. Not particularly useful for dealing damage, but great for disrupting your opponents' attacks.

Another ability for Zilla could be scaling large buildings. Approach a skyscraper and press the grapple button and Zilla grabs onto the side and start climbing. If you reach the top of the building, you can perch yourself on the roof and set up a highly lethal jump attack (think pro wrestlers jumping onto downed foes from the corner of the ring). This could be a risky move though, as your opponents could knock the building down with you on it, which could potentially deal great damage to Zilla.

Although the film that started the creature's own reign (in its own way) bares intense hatred. I think fans have learned to mellow over the years about the creature itself. Mainly due to GTS. I like your ideas, although I do wonder if the engine would support scaling a building. Also for a tap projectile it could be hurricane breath, it could help disrupt attacks and give some breathing room. While the normal projectile is the atomic breath. As for the borrowing detail, we could expand on that like what was done with Baragon. I remember baragon being able to jump out from the ground while in the process of borrowing, we could give Zilla the same deal, but instead of jumping out, he could use a short burst of his atomic breath to knock back/or push back a opponent. (Those who had seen GTS: Monster Wars part 3 will know what I'm talking about).

Umm....A resistance and weakness stats, that's where I'm stuck at for now. Zilla should have resistance against nuclear and heat. While weak against Alien energy and possibly poison. Still tinkering with the idea though.

As for a design for Zilla, I don't really mind what direction is taken. Film look or GTS look, since Matt is possibly doing the creature designs for this game then it doesn't matter since it will turn out to be awesome-looking anyway.

[Brianzilla2004]

Also for a tap projectile it could be hurricane breath, it could help disrupt attacks and give some breathing room. While the normal projectile is the atomic breath.

Hurricane Breath. That's a better name for it. It's basically the same thing as Anguirus' Sonic Roar, but it shouldn't deal 'sonic' damage. I like your idea of tapping for the hurricane breath and holding for Atomic Ray.

As for the borrowing detail, we could expand on that like what was done with Baragon. I remember baragon being able to jump out from the ground while in the process of borrowing, we could give Zilla the same deal, but instead of jumping out, he could use a short burst of his atomic breath to knock back/or push back a opponent. (Those who had seen GTS: Monster Wars part 3 will know what I'm talking about).

I don't really have any ideas for specific burrowing attacks, but you reminded me of some ideas I had. When it comes to burrowing, I'd like to see the ground breaking more realistically. In GSTE, when Baragon burrows you see lots of dirt flinging to show you where he is. With this new game, I think the effect should change based on terrain. For example, if you burrow in a city street and move along underground, the concrete should crack and raise up where the monster is. This could be a part of a bigger destructible ground thing. If a monster is thrown up into the sky, then comes crashing down, it would be really great to have the ground smashed in where they landed. Debris could fling into the air when the ground is smashed.

While we're on the subject of destruction, I've gotta get something off my chest. I HATE low-rising buildings in GDAMM and GSTE. You can't walk through them, so you either have to go out of your way to perform low-aiming attacks on the buildings, or go around/jump over them. I've never seen a Godzilla movie in which Godzilla needs to get around a shin-high building to progress. Instead of forcing monsters to perform melee attacks to destroy these buildings or move around them, why not allow the monsters to walk through them? Buildings that come up to around a monster's waist could be destructible just by walking through them, but they could stilt the monster's speed. Their walking animation could also become more labored as they power their way through the building. Larger monsters could be more resistant to this, while the smaller, faster monsters would be better off moving around the buildings.

[matrix]

Hmmm, I hope that the boxing arena will be brought back, its so fun, but gone in Godzilla: Unleashed

[hammysammy59]

Another ability for Zilla could be scaling large buildings. Approach a skyscraper and press the grapple button and Zilla grabs onto the side and start climbing. If you reach the top of the building, you can perch yourself on the roof and set up a highly lethal jump attack (think pro wrestlers jumping onto downed foes from the corner of the ring). This could be a risky move though, as your opponents could knock the building down with you on it, which could potentially deal great damage to Zilla.

I love this idea and I would LOVE to see this in the game. The cool part is, if the mechanics are worked out for Zilla, it could then get applied to other monsters who would could use this ability: mainly Kong (or a Kong-alike--more a tribute to his non-Toho movies than anything) and maybe Kamacuras (we see him landing on buildings in FW).

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

Another ability for Zilla could be scaling large buildings. Approach a skyscraper and press the grapple button and Zilla grabs onto the side and start climbing. If you reach the top of the building, you can perch yourself on the roof and set up a highly lethal jump attack (think pro wrestlers jumping onto downed foes from the corner of the ring). This could be a risky move though, as your opponents could knock the building down with you on it, which could potentially deal great damage to Zilla.

I love this idea and I would LOVE to see this in the game. The cool part is, if the mechanics are worked out for Zilla, it could then get applied to other monsters who would could use this ability: mainly Kong (or a Kong-alike--more a tribute to his non-Toho movies than anything) and maybe Kamacuras (we see him landing on buildings in FW).

Here's another one:
If the opposing kaiju destroys the building Zilla is currently mounted on (for example: Gigan striking the sides with his hammer claws), as the building is collapsing...Zilla falls on top of the opposing kaiju, dealing blunt damage (I'm imagining a cross-body splash).

[Living Corpse]

Question: Hypothetically if we get Kamacuras would his active camouflage power be a problem to make work?

http://www.tohokingdom.com/kaiju/kamacuras_mill.htm

Turning invisible and moving about, using buildings as cover would be a great way to get away from a beam spamming Godzilla.